Aerial and infrared drone roof inspection in Tulsa, OK — map trapped moisture across large low-slope roofs without foot traffic, document storm damage for claims, and survey under FAA Part 107.
Picture the roof on a fulfillment building near the Tulsa Port of Catoosa, or the long low-slope deck over a power center on the East 71st Street retail corridor. Acres of single-ply membrane, dozens of drains and curbs, hundreds of seams. Inspecting that by walking it is slow, and every footstep is a fresh opportunity to scuff the membrane or find a soft spot the hard way. Worse, a person standing on a flat roof is looking across it at a shallow angle and simply cannot see ponding or subtle surface change the way an overhead view can. So on roofs like these we fly. A drone covers the whole surface at a fixed altitude in a fraction of the time, produces a consistent high-resolution photographic record of every basin and penetration, and keeps a crew off a deck whose condition we have not yet confirmed.
Tulsa gives us no shortage of roofs worth flying. The industrial and logistics belt rings the city — the warehouse runs along I-44 and US-75, the plants out toward Catoosa, the big-box and distribution footprints in Owasso and Broken Arrow. And the metro sits squarely in hail-and-wind country, so after most spring storm seasons the real question on a large roof is not whether it took damage but where, and how much. An aerial survey answers that across the entire roof at once, in documentation an adjuster can actually work from.
The visible-light photos are useful, but the thermal imagery is the reason to fly. Wet insulation buried inside a low-slope assembly absorbs the day's heat and releases it slowly, so it stays warmer after sunset than the dry insulation around it. We fly a calibrated infrared camera over the roof during that evening cool-down window, and the trapped moisture lights up as distinct warm signatures — mapping exactly where the saturation sits and how far it spreads, even where the membrane surface looks flawless from above. On a roof measured in acres, that systematic, uniform coverage is something a foot survey cannot reproduce. You would be coring blind; the thermal pass tells you precisely where to look.
That moisture map is what turns a fuzzy "the roof is getting old" conversation into an actual decision. Once we know where the wet insulation is and what share of the roof it covers, we can tell you whether you are facing a targeted cut-and-patch, a recover, or a full tear-off — and back the call with imagery instead of instinct. We verify the thermal findings with a handful of core cuts at flagged spots, so the data is confirmed before anyone prices a scope off it.
After a hail or wind event, documentation is the difference between a paid claim and an argument. We deliver a GPS-tagged photographic record that pins each finding to its precise spot on the roof: hail impact density and pattern, wind-lifted or peeled membrane, displaced edge metal, and damaged rooftop units and flashings. The report is built in the format commercial property carriers expect, so an adjuster can review it remotely and keep the claim moving. For an owner running several properties across the Tulsa metro, that consistency from building to building is worth as much as the imagery.
Commercial drone work falls under FAA Part 107, and we operate by it — a licensed remote pilot, current aircraft registration, and pre-flight airspace checks that genuinely matter in this market. Tulsa airspace is busy and layered. Tulsa International sits northeast of downtown, Richard Lloyd Jones Jr. (Riverside) airport is on the west bank of the Arkansas River south of the city, and controlled airspace shelves overlap several of the commercial districts where these roofs actually live. We confirm any required airspace authorization before launch, keep the aircraft within visual line of sight, observe wind and weather limits, and stay clear of people and traffic below. On the roofing side, the safety story is also a liability story: flying the inspection keeps a crew off an unknown deck until we know it is safe to stand on.
When a reroof is on the table, a flight hands us accurate roof-area measurements, a full inventory of penetrations and curbs, and a documented record of existing conditions before we ever write the proposal. Designing the new system off real conditions rather than assumptions scraped from a rushed walkover is what keeps the RFIs and change orders — the things that blow up a construction budget mid-project — from piling up. The drawings match the roof because they were built from the roof.
It covers the whole roof systematically at a fixed altitude and produces a complete photographic record without the foot traffic that scuffs membranes and creates liability on an unknown deck. It is most valuable on large low-slope roofs, where a walkover takes hours and still misses ponding that is invisible from standing height. The infrared pass in particular needs the uniform coverage only a flight delivers.
Yes, under the right conditions. The standard approach is a thermal pass during the cool-down period after sunset, when wet insulation still releasing the day's heat reads warmer than the dry insulation around it. The resulting moisture map is accurate enough to drive the choice between a partial repair and a tear-off, and we confirm it with core cuts at the flagged spots.
We deliver a GPS-tagged report documenting hail impact location and density, wind damage patterns, equipment and flashing damage, and overall membrane condition, formatted to match commercial carrier requirements so it goes straight to the adjuster. For contested claims we can provide a supporting statement built on that documentation.
Large flat commercial roofs — logistics and industrial buildings, retail centers, office complexes, multi-building campuses. It matters less on small or steep roofs a person can cover quickly. For any commercial roof beyond roughly 10,000 square feet that needs a real condition assessment, flying it is both more thorough and more efficient.
Yes. We operate under FAA Part 107 with a licensed remote pilot and run pre-flight airspace checks, which carry weight given how close Tulsa International and Riverside airports sit to the commercial districts. We secure any required authorization, keep the aircraft in visual line of sight, and respect wind and weather limits on every flight.
Tell us about the building and the roof problem. We'll document it and put a plan in writing — no pressure, no boilerplate.
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